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Stranded at sea aboard a lifeboat after a water landing, the gang spend restless hours at each other's throats, awaiting rescue. Joe watches his plane sink, and Helen loses her cello. Just as things are at there worst, and the lifeboat is losing air, they are rescued by the Coast Guard. But for Joe things don't get better, as the unpaid bills begin to pile up and his search for a plane to rent proves futile. Finally he decides to sell Sandpiper and move to the South Pacific, and convinces Helen to come with him. But then Lowell comes out of the hangar and says he has something Joe might want to see: it's his plane that was just salvaged. After seeing that, he can't leave.moreless

Angry at the nearly non-existent aid from his insurance company, Joe lets Brian convince him to fake an injury to get more money out of his insurers. Despite Helen's loud objections, they get a shady doctor's letter and wait for the insurers. But Joe gets cold feet at the last minute, forcing the two brothers to have to switch roles. The investigator is a beautiful woman who quickly fools Brian into giving away the whole scam, and the two brothers look like they're headed for court or worse. But their panic is unnecessary, as Helen reveals the investigator is a friend of hers; she just wanted to teach the brothers a lesson. But then Roy shows up with a check from Joe's insurers for non-existent injuries, and Helen beats a hasty retreat.moreless

Sandpiper is finally back in business, but Joe's nose is broken by a man who mistakes him for Brian. At the surgeon's office, the doctor's observation of a bump on Brian's nose has him obsessing about getting a nose job.

Roy complains out loud about the singing of the national anthem at a Red Sox game; he believes he could do far better. So with Brian's connections in the Sox front office, Roy is given the chance to sing at Fenway. Roy responds by blacking out while doing the national anthem at the game.moreless

Kissed by Helen after he fixes her stove, Lowell decides to ask for a date. She laughs in his face, but concedes to a date while apologizing to him. The next day, the brothers discover that Helen had a wonderful time, while Lowell was bored out of his mind. It takes a while, but on their next date, Lowell finally gets up the nerve to dump Helen. Depressed after being dumped, Helen wonders if she and Joe were meant to be together. But after sharing a steamy kiss in the airport terminal, they quickly dismiss the idea.moreless

Alex agrees to a date with Brian at the Parade of Tall Ships. Brian borrows Lowell's boat for the event. But Brian sinks Lowell's boat. Joe and Brian are then forced into inviting Lowell to stay with them for a while and are surprised at how well Lowell cooks and how eager he is to do the household chores. They enjoy his visit so much that when his insurance check arrives they decide to hang onto it for a little while. But soon the honeymoon comes to an end as Lowell's strict discipline rubs the Hackett's the wrong way. But when they've agreed to boot Lowell out they discover his check is missing. At supper that night, he confronts them with the check. While ironing out the misunderstanding about the check, the brothers and Lowell make peace and they invite him to stay on.moreless

Joe and Helen watch with trepidation as one of Brian's old girlfriends, Shannon Moss, arrives for a visit. Their fears are soon realized when Brian falls under her spell yet again. The fact is that she is just using him to boost her own fragile ego. For her career is in trouble, and her boyfriend has just dumped her. But Brian thinks they're starting a real relationship this time. As always, Shannon pushes him aside once her life seems to fall back into place. Brian doesn't wake up to the truth until goaded by Joe and Helen into a final confrontation with Shannon in the airport.moreless

Rumors abound at the airport when Antonio reveals he saw Joe's car parked outside of Alex's apartment late the night before. Soon the airport - especially Brian and Helen - is buzzing about the possibilities. Since Alex had been intoxicated that night, Joe is the only one who knows the real truth and he won't tell. Alex then makes a big scene and pretends to leave after he won't tell even her. But she soon returns, and he eventually tells her the whole story. They share a steamy kiss.moreless

Joe is irritated about getting charged a rewind fee for a returned video tape which he believes was rewound. It ends up costing the nice old lady at the video store her job. His chagrin deepens when he finds out that the tape hadn't been rewound. More guilt is heaped upon his shoulders when he finds out the lady suffered a stroke following her firing. He visits the woman at the hospital, only to find her entire family present, and she seems to recover after hearing his apologetic words.moreless

Antonio performs his civic duty when he helps bring to court a suspected robber and then testifies against him. But then the suspect gets released on a technicality and Antonio starts to fear for his life.

After a trip to see a friend in Boston at Logan Airport and finding out how much more he gets paid, Lowell decides to ask Roy and Joe for a raise. Following Antonio's advice, Lowell threatens to leave for a job in Boston if his demands aren't met. Joe can't afford the raise and Roy refuses to cough up any more money. Even though he doesn't want that job in Boston, Lowell continues to bluff, until he finds himself out of a job, replaced by Gil, and saying goodbye to his friends. But later that night Lowell returns much to everyone's surprise, and pays Antonio back for his advice.moreless

Loose talk at Helen's house one night between Antonio, Helen and Alex reveals Alex once posed for Playboy. Helen and Antonio promise to keep it a secret, but at the airport the following Monday, Joe and Brian quickly find out about it. They quickly raid Roy's office and his collection of Playboys, eventually finding the photo. Antonio becomes the focus of Alex's wrath, but it is soon revealed the secret was leaked by a subconsciously jealous Helen at the beauty parlor. Angry words are exchanged between Alex and Helen when the truth comes to light. The situation is diffused by a very anxious Fay.moreless

When Helen hears about auditions for the Nantucket String Quartet, it revives her aspirations of being a cellist. Unfortunately, she has no cello. Urged on by Brian, she takes on a second job at the fish packing plant to earn money for a new cello, but her happiness soon turns sour when she gets laid off. Disturbed at seeing her so unhappy, Brian convinces Joe help him buy Helen a new cello. To the two brothers shock she refuses the generous gift.

Meanwhile, Fay, Antonio, Roy and Lowell get parts in the community theatre's production of "The Phantom of the Oprah."moreless

Helen is unhappy that the brothers are "coming to her rescue" with their gift, but they finally convince her to accept the cello and go after the job in the Nantucket String Quartet. When the first choices of the String Quartet decline, she wins a place in the group. Helen's happiness is soon tempered by the strange quirks of her fellow musicians, but for the sake of the job Brian and Joe helped her get, she doesn't quit.

Meanwhile, "Phantom of the Oprah" is canceled before the first performance.moreless

To impress Alex, Brian tells her he is a good friend of Clint Black and that he can get tickets to Black's sold-out Boston show. Helen works her way into the mix, knowing Brian is up to his old tricks. Brian finally talks Lowell into dumping his three friends and going along with him, so he can have Lowell's tickets for him, Alex and Helen. Finally Helen coerces Brian into trying to get them into meeting Clint, but Brian is stopped at every turn until Helen talks to Clint and he pretends to be Brian's old friend.moreless

In their pursuit of Alex, Joe and Brian take some indirect tips from Helen as she describes her own reactions to another's man advances. But Alex sees through all their ploys, until Joe and Brian finally resort to honest conversation over dinner to settle their relationship with Alex.

To cheer up Carlton Blanchard on a lonely birthday, Helen invites him to her house for a party. But after Carlton falls down her stairs and threatens a lawsuit from his lawyer son, Helen's hospitality is stretched to the limit as he settles in her living room to recover from his injuries. Finally, Helen discovers two things that are no surprise at all. Carlton doesn't have a lawyer for a son and his injuries are imaginary. So she boots him out.moreless

Weeb Gilroy's death has Lowell searching for the right words to write for a eulogy for his long time friend. Words fail him at the end; all he can think of is to finish working on the plane that they used to work on. With Joe's help they finally get it into the air. Meanwhile, Helen, who hasn't slept in days due to a squirrel in the attic keeping her up all night, suffers a concussion and the doctor tells her she must stay up for at least 24 hours as a precaution. Brian and Joe take on the job, resorting to using water guns to keep her up.moreless

At Walter's wedding, Lowell's hopes of getting back together with Bunny are dashed when she introduces him to her date. Trying to save face, Lowell tells her about his own date, Yvette, and is saved from telling the truth when a late arriving Alex shows up to support his bluff. Meanwhile, Joe attempts to avoid a dull acquaintance, Antonio tries to gather up enough courage to talk to a beautiful woman, Helen attempts to break away from her dancing partner to talk to another more interesting man, and a lonely Brian leaves before Alex arrives.moreless

Alex's weekend with Brian is spoiled when the wonderful spontaneity of the event revealed by Joe and Helen to be one of Brian's many prepared date packages. But instead of taking advantage of Brian's failure, Joe pleads his brother's case to Alex, and she and Brian decide to start dating.

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